Would God Still Love Me?
by Mental Masturbation
Summary: Katagi is a boy who just wants to live a good, normal life. But when he is saved by two boys from his school and two unfamiliar, events unfold that reveal to him things he never knew to be possible. Kurama/OC
1. Would God Still Love Me?

I do NOT own Yu Yu Hakusho because if I did I'm pretty sure the characters wouldn't like the kinds of things that I might have them do. Alrighty enjoy!

**Would God Still Love Me?**

_Chapter One_

_-_

Katagi Shugorei was walking home after a tough day of school and he couldn't wait to get home and take a nap. The way he was walking took longer to get to his apartment, but he found it necessary to do so, and he really didn't mind walking all that much.

"Ugh, now I just have to think of what I should make for dinner, not that I ever have to make anything big. *Sigh* I'll probably just make ramen...again," he mumbled to himself as he went along his way.

Katagi seemed to be just a normal 15 year old kid. He was kinda short for someone his age, around 5'6 and as he walked a long braid swung gently behind him. His hair went all the way passed his butt and it shone a reddish gold color in the sunlight. It contrasted wonderfully to his fair milky skin. The only thing anyone could say was odd about him was his eyes. His right one was a silver blue and his left one was a brilliant violet.

Since he was very young Katagi had been an orphan. Up until a year ago he had lived in the Ainokesshou Orphanage run by a reverend and nuns. He now lived on his own in an apartment. Why? Well, the orphanage sorta...kicked him out you could say.

Well, not really, but getting rid of him was the objective so they put him in a special program that got him his own place and paid for his school tuition until he was eighteen, then they would drop him like a newborn giraffe.

Now, why would an orphanage be so desperate to get him out of there you might ask? Because at some points when Katagi was growing up some...abnormal, things happened to him. They only usually happened when Katagi was seriously angry.

They were small things, but noticeable. His fingernails would grow a bit and his ears seemed to point at the ends. Also his canines would become pointer and lengthen just a tad. Now this would be bad news for anyone really, but for Katagi it was much much worse. Since the orphanage was very much devoted to God these changes condemned Katagi in the eyes of everyone as something unnatural.

His life at the orphanage was made miserable because of these occurrences, but Katagi refused to let that keep him down. He strived to live a good life and abide by the laws of the Lord and try to prove to the people at the orphanage he was normal. Though he admitted to himself he probably would have given up ages ago if he didn't have support from his one and only friend from the orphanage, a nun named Sister Minbou.

She had been the only one there for him through those hard years and tried every way she could to help and protect him from the others. The only reason he had been hesitant about leaving was because he would also be away from her. As a memento she had given him a necklace with a silver cross on it that had sapphires embedded in it and he wore it all the time.

Other than being without her, Katagi's life was pleasant now that he was living on his own away from all the misplaced hatred towards him. He attended Sarayashiki junior high school where people seemed to accept him. He was kind of shy and quiet so no one really noticed him much, but he was okie with that. Most thought he was a nice guy and since no one knew about the strange happenings of his childhood he was left alone and wasn't the target of teasing or harassment. Yep, even though his life was rocky at some points in the beginning he liked it just the way it was now.

"Hey, where do you think your going?" A voice called out behind him. He turned around and behind him were three thugs from Kasanegafuchi junior high school *Oh no, not them again. How did they find my new route home?* Katagi thought as panic started to creep up on him.

"What do you guys want?" He asked and immediately gave himself a mental slap. He knew exactly what they wanted.

"We want to finish our little game," the guy who looked like the leader said taking a few steps closer to Katagi. "We never did get to finish it," a smirk slipped onto his lips that made Katagi's insides churn. One of the other guys came up beside the leader.

"Yeah and the boss ALWAYS finishes what he's started," Katagi gulped and took a few steps back.

"Well, sorry, but that's one game I am NOT going to finish," Katagi stated trying to keep his voice from wavering, but doing a poor job of it. The other goon now stepped up with the other two and pulled out a switchblade.

"Well, that's not really your choice now is it?" He sneered and licked the side of his blade.

"I don't know how you got away last time, but you aren't going anywhere now," the leader said, starting to advance on Katagi. Katagi took more steps back and looked around for anything that could help him. But there was nothing so he did the first thing that popped into his head.

"Uh um BEAR!!!" He shouted pointing behind the guys. They turned around and looked, but saw nothing.

"What the hell are you talking about? There's no bear," goon #1 said as they turned back.

"WHAT THE HELL!!!" All three of them yelled as they saw that now there was also nothing in front of them.

"There he goes!" Goon#2 exclaimed as he saw Katagi far down the path.

"After him! Don't let him get away!" The leader ordered and they all took off after him.

Katagi was running as fast as he could and blessed his luck that those guys were as stupid as they looked *Shaman King you are now at the top of my favorite list, and they say T.V. never teaches you anything,* he thought as he ran, but he could hear the thugs behind him in hot pursuit. He wished that he could go unnaturally fast like sometimes he did in his childhood at odd moments, but his speed stayed the same so he focused on just running and trying not to trip. There was no way Katagi was going to let them catch him and finish their "game". It sent a shiver up his spine just thinking about it as he ran.

**FLASHBACK 2 WEEKS AGO**

Katagi was walking home through the park he usually went through. Not only was it a short cut, but it was a lovely place. As he went along three guys suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Hello there," the leader greeted him in a deadly sweet voice. Katagi stopped and just stared at them prepared to give them anything they wanted. He may have had very little money to buy what he needed to live, but he wasn't going to be stupid enough to try to keep it. He cursed his luck that no one was around.

"Can I help you?" Katagi asked in a steady voice or what he would like to think was a steady voice.

"Yeah you can help us by giving us all your money," Goon #1 said. Katagi quickly took out his wallet and got out his money and held it out to them. The leader came up to him and took it and looked through to see how much was there.

"Can I get by now?" Katagi inquired, trying to keep his voice firm, but not enough so to make them think he was being uppity and rude, which might set them off. The leader put the money in his pocket and looked at Katagi then suddenly started looking over his body with what looked like a predatory gaze. That made Katagi nervous and he took a step back.

"What?" The leader grabbed Katagi's chin so he couldn't step back further. Katagi immediately tried to struggle out of his grip, but the jerk was at least two times his size and a lot stronger then him. "What are you doing!?" Katagi was starting to panic.

"Man, for a guy you sure are a looker," the leader said examining Katagi's face. That made Katagi stop and a cold sweat start to form onto his skin. He didn't like where this was going, not one bit. "Don't you agree boys?" He asked his cronies looking over at them. Goon #2 came up to them for a closer look.

"Yeah, I guess he is, for a guy," Goon #1 started doing a creepy chuckle.

"Actually, if it wasn't for the guy school uniform I would have thought he was a girl," the leader laughed and looked back at Katagi and leered at him. Katagi started to struggle again.

"Let me go! I gave you what you wanted!"

"Now we want something else from you. We're going to play a little game. Are you going to play with us willingly or are you going to make us force you?" As he asked this he used his free hand and brushed it gently against Katagi's neck and played with a strand of hair that had gotten loose from his braid. Katagi shuddered in disgust and tried harder to get away. He had been prepared to give them anything they wanted, but that? That was absolutely out of the question.

"No, let me go! What you are suggesting is blasphemy and I will not par take in it!" Goon #2 made a sound like a buzzer.

"Eeee wrong answer kid," before Katagi could even blink the leader let him go then delivered a hard punch to his stomach that made Katagi double over in pain, then Goon #1 kicked him in his side causing him to fall to the ground and gasp for breath.

"Hurry, drag him over to the side. We don't want anyone to come down the path and see our play time," the leader sneered.

"Right boss," both the goons chirped, and they each grabbed one of Katagi's wrists and started to drag him off the path. Katagi flailed and kicked trying to free himself.

"No! Stop it! Let me go!" He cried out, now going well beyond panic and heading into the zone of hysteria. The leader looked around then straightened his hair back and smirked, following after his cronies. The goons dragged Katagi into the bushes and found a clear spot.

"Okie now hold his arms down," the leader ordered. The goons got down to their knees and pinned Katagi's arms above his head.

"Stop it! Leave me alone please!" Katagi pleaded desperately. His mind started to reel at the events that had happened so suddenly, and about what was going to happen to him. The leader looked down at Katagi hungrily then got down and started to crawl over his body. When he got to face level he put his mouth next to Katagi's ear.

"Shh quiet now. It will be a lot more fun if you stop struggling. I promise," he purred into his ear then let his tongue start to map out the grooves of it. Katagi shuddered in revolt and started to struggle violently as tears started to prick at his eyes.

"NO STOP!!!" Katagi practically screeched. The goons snickered and the leader just pushed his body down more firmly on top of Katagi's struggling one. To Katagi's horror he could feel just how excited the leader was, and struggling seemed to make him even more excited. Tears started to go down Katagi's face and the leader lapped them up with long lazy strokes of his tongue.

"Oh well, sometimes it's better when their feisty," the goons howled with laughter at that. The leader started tugging at Katagi's uniform, and he pulled so hard the buttons popped off and the fabric tore.

"No, please don't do this, please!" Katagi begged starting to tire from struggling so hard.

"But you're so warm and inviting," the leader cooed as he slipped his hand into his torn shirt and started to explore Katagi's chest. Suddenly Katagi started to feel something weird build up in his body and grow stronger with Katagi's panic. The leader started to let his hand roam farther south and whatever it was in Katagi overloaded.

"STOP IT!!!" He screamed and all three guys were thrown backward by some unseen force. Katagi wasted no time thinking over what had happened and he got up and ran, stepping on the leader as he went and he ran all the way home.

**END FLASHBACK**

Katagi could feel tears coming to his eyes as that memory washed over him. When he had gotten home he must have taken at least 100 showers, even when the hot water ran out and it turned freezing. He had felt so dirty and violated and he had horrible nightmares almost every night afterward. Then there was the fact of HOW he had gotten away. He didn't want to think about if he had been the one to make them fly back because it would just prove further that he wasn't normal. If he wasn't normal and was something unnatural he could never get into heaven because he would be some kind of Satan spawn or something as some kids called him in the orphanage.

He tried to nail into his head that maybe he had found some strength and thrown them all off and it just seemed like they flew back on their own. He also noticed that when he got home his nails, ears, and teeth grew again.

He didn't want to, but he forced himself to go to school the next day. He hadn't told anyone what had happened and pretended everything was all right. He found that new route home because no one used it anymore and people barely knew about it. He realized how stupid that was now. He didn't think about if they did find him. There would be absolutely no chance of someone coming to help him.

He could hear the thugs getting closer and he urged his legs to go faster, luckily he had always liked running and walking so he was in pretty good shape.

*Just one more block, one more, then they won't dare go into Urameshi's territory,* he thought frantically. Yusuke Urameshi was the toughest kid in his school and Katagi was lucky enough to live in his territory so he was pretty much safe from people from other schools.

His legs felt like they were about to give out, but there was no way he was going to stop. He was amazed that those guys weren't exhausted and hadn't given up by now. Katagi passed the one block mark, but the guys were still going after him. *Man, don't these guys give up? I can't run home because then they'll know where I live. My only chance is to lead them somewhere where guys from my school hang out,* he thought of a café place a few blocks away from his apartment that the guys from his school had claimed was theirs.

If he could get there he would be safe and hopefully they would teach those guys a lesson for coming into their place and picking on someone from their school. Normally Katagi hated violence on anyone, but he was prepared to make an exception for these creeps.

He changed the direction he was going and started running in the direction of the café. To his dismay the thugs were getting closer and closer. Why the one time he needed and wanted that weird speed did it not work? He saw that he was almost to the café and he started using his last bit of strength and pushed himself faster. *Just around the corner and I'll be safe* he kept repeating to himself. He got to the corner and rounded it, but he hit something, hard, and fell to the ground and heard an "Oof," from whatever he ran into.

*No I was so close!* he wailed to himself then his eyes widened when he realized just what he had run into. Also sitting on his butt from the collision and staring back at him was none other then Yusuke Urameshi! And standing behind him was his friend Kazuma Kuwabara, the second toughest in his school, and two guys he didn't know. One was short with black hair that he couldn't even guess how it was able to stand straight up like it did with a white star burst in it. He had intense red eyes and he was wearing a white head band and some weird black dress or long coat type thing. The second guy was probably taller then Katagi was and he had blood red hair and magnificent bright green eyes.

"Ow man that hurt," Yusuke said rubbing his head.

"Where you running to in such a hurry kid?" Kuwabara asked with a confused look on his face. Absolute relief washed over Katagi.

"I *huff huff* thugs *huff*," Katagi was having a difficult time just breathing from pushing himself so hard let alone able to talk. The guys just looked at him with questioning looks then to Katagi's horror he heard.

"We got you now you little bastard!" The creeps were almost right on him! Katagi tried desperately to scramble away, but the leader practically jumped on him and planted his foot right on Katagi's back forcing him back down and smacking his chin into the sidewalk. Katagi could taste the metallic tang of blood as his teeth bit into his cheek. It filled his mouth and squeezed its way out of the sides of his lips.

"You *huff* ain't getting away this time, pretty boy," goon #1 said as him and the other caught up. In Katagi's panic he was able to find his voice.

"No get off me! Stop it!" He cried out in pure terror.

"HEY!" Yusuke jumped to his feet and smashed his fist into the side of the leaders face. He stumbled back and off of Katagi, but his goons caught him before he fell. Yusuke placed himself in between Katagi and the thugs. "What the hell do you think your doing!?" The thugs looked up to see who had done that then their eyes widened in terror.

"YUSUKE URAMESHI!?!?!?" Kuwabara then stepped in next to Yusuke.

"Can't believe you guys would be stupid enough to come into our territory," he said to them.

"And trying to beat up one of our own people in our territory is way beyond stupid," Yusuke sneered giving a very intimidating look. The thugs looked around and just seemed to realize where they were.

"I told you that kid wasn't worth all the trouble, boss," goon #2 whispered.

"Shut up!!!" The leader snapped then put on his best business face. "We just have some unfinished business with him, and then we'll leave."

"What'd he do to you?" Kuwabara asked.

"Well, that doesn't concern you," the leader retorted. Yusuke started to laugh and when it died down into a chuckle he said.

"Making demands from us isn't going to help your situation."

Katagi slowly got into a sitting position; he was so tired, and was trying to get his mouth to stop bleeding and he spit the blood out close to the manholes in the sidewalk. The red headed guy came over to him as Yusuke, Kuwabara, and the thugs continued to talk. He crouched down next to him and touched his shoulder. Surprised, Katagi recoiled from the touch and he looked up to see those incredible green eyes.

"Sorry, here," the red head said with an apologetic smile and handed him a handkerchief. Katagi smiled and took it from him.

"Thank you," he said and pressed it to his mouth to soak up the blood. Then the black haired guy came over to them.

"This is pointless," he said to himself, then said to Yusuke. "Yusuke, just take care of them already," Yusuke looked over his shoulder at him.

"Alright hold your horses; we'll be done soon," taking this as his chance the leader rushed at Yusuke and tried to punch him. Yusuke dodged easily and uppercut him. Then soon all five were fighting.

In less then six minutes the thugs were barely recognizable and Yusuke and Kuwabara barely had a scratch. The three started to run away when the leader turned around and pointed at Katagi.

"This isn't over punk! We'll get you when you least expect it! I always finish what I start!" Yusuke punched his fist into his other hand.

"And I suggest you start running," he threatened taking a step forward. One could barely tell, but the leader paled and started running after his goons that hadn't stopped.

"Ha, nothing but cowards," Kuwabara scoffed. Him and Yusuke gave each other high-fives then walked over to the others. Yusuke looked down at Katagi.

"Hey, you okie kid?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah, I think so, I just bit into my cheek," he answered spitting some more blood out toward the manhole.

"Here lemme help you up," Yusuke held out his hand and Katagi took it. Yusuke pulled him to his feet, but Katagi was still tired from all the running and stumbled. The red head quickly grabbed his shoulders and steadied him. Katagi thanked him again.

"Hey," Kuwabara said suddenly, "You're in some of our classes at school aren't you?" Katagi nodded.

"Yeah, your name is Kotachi right?" Yusuke asked. Katagi let out a weak laugh causing more blood to spill out his mouth. He quickly pressed the handkerchief to his mouth then said.

"No *cough* it's Katagi."

"Oh, right, sorry," Yusuke apologized rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

"It's okie," Katagi assured him. "After saving me you can call me anything you want," Yusuke laughed.

"Nah Katagi's good. You probably don't know our other friends, this here is Hiei," Katagi turned his attention to the short one with the impossible spiky hair.

"Nice to meet you," he said politely making a small bow, but Hiei just turned his head and made an "hn" sound. Katagi raise a confused eyebrow.

"Aw don't worry about the shrimp, he's like that to everyone," Kuwabara said hitting Hiei on the back.

"Touch me again, baka, and you'll be just as tall as I am," Hiei threatened and when his coat thing moved Katagi could see a hidden katana at the guy's waist. *Whoa, note to self: don't piss him off,* then his attention was brought to the red headed guy as he held out his hand.

"And my name is Shuichi Minamino, nice to meet you," Katagi smiled and shook his hand.

"Same here," Katagi couldn't help but noticed his heart sped up as he shook Shuichi's hand.

"Why were those guys after you anyways?" Asked Kuwabara. Katagi looked down at the ground and he could feel his face start to heat up in shame. What was he going to tell them? He was too embarrassed about the truth and he hated lying.

"Uh...do guys like that really need a reason?" He finally said, not making eye contact.

"Pfft no. Damn punks picking fights with anyone from our school," Yusuke huffed and Kuwabara nodded in agreement. Katagi didn't think Hiei or Shuichi bought it, but they didn't say anything.

"Do you live around here?" Shuichi then asked Katagi.

"Yeah a few blocks away from here," he pointed in the direction of his apartment building. "I couldn't go back to my apartment cause then they would have known where I lived so I lead them this way to the hangout our school goes to," Yusuke laughed and slung his arm over Katagi's shoulder.

"That was smart thinking, you're lucky you ran into us, literally," the weight of Yusuke's arm was a little much for Katagi's tired body, but he bared it.

"Yeah you're telling me,"

"Why don't we walk you home? We were heading that way anyways," Shuichi offered. Hiei grunted in annoyance.

"Liar, we were going the other way," he muttered. Katagi didn't want to be a problem to his saviors.

"No, that's okie. You guys already helped me out enough; I don't want to be a bother."

"We don't mind we'll do it anyways," Kuwabara insisted.

"Yes, and anyways I offered" Shuichi added. Katagi bit his bottom lip and looked the way the thugs had gone. He couldn't be sure if they could be somewhere waiting for the guys to leave. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have a few bodyguards around.

"Alright, I guess if you're sure," he answered.

"Sure we're sure. Let's go," said Yusuke and they headed off toward Katagi's home.

On the way back to his apartment Katagi was glad they went with him since every so often he would stumble from exhaustion. Then his head kept feeling funny as if something beside his brain was in there. Finally, after a time Katagi thought was too long, they arrived at his apartment building.

"Here we are," he announced. Yusuke let out a whistle.

"Pretty nice place."

"Thanks, it works for me," the orphanage may not have liked him, but they weren't about to let people think they would put one of their charges in a dump, wouldn't reflect highly on them. Katagi lead them to the stairs and they were about to go up when they heard shouting.

"Muffy! Muffy get back here this instant!" It sounded like an old woman's voice. Katagi covered his eyes with his hand and shook his head letting out an amused chuckle.

"Not again."

"Huh, not again what?" Kuwabara asked with a confused look.

"You'll see, you guys might want to back up," he answered. They did what he asked and Katagi put down his book bag, (Yes he's had one the whole time I just, uh, didn't mention it) and braced himself at the bottom of the stairs.

"Muffy, no don't go near the stairs!" The voice yelled and no sooner had she a white fluff ball came jumping from the top step. Katagi quickly went up the stairs and caught it before it was able to land and hurt itself. "Oh no, MUFFY!"

"It's alright, Mrs. Saiyaki, I got him!" Katagi called up the stairs. In his arms was a yapping white terrier trying to smother Katagi with licks.

"Katagi, is that you? Oh thank goodness," the voice said from the top of the stairs. Katagi retrieved his book bag and motioned the guys to follow him. All of them with odd looks on their faces.

They went to the top of the stairs and waiting there was an old woman about the size of Hiei in a pink robe with very thick glasses and grey hair pulled back into a tight bun.

"Oh, Katagi, thank you so much, what would I ever do without you?" the old woman exclaimed in delight, taking Muffy from Katagi's arms.

"It's no problem Mrs. Saiyaki," Katagi said wiping the slobber off his cheek.

"Oh, Deary, you're bleeding," she said seeing some blood drip from Katagi's mouth. Katagi quickly wiped it away.

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about, I just fell and bit my cheek," more like he was slammed down, but it wasn't really a lie.

"Oh alright, who are your friends?" She asked seeing the guys behind him. Katagi made introductions between them and the old woman. "It's nice to see you're finally bringing some friends over, I worry you're lonely sometimes. Well, I better go put Muffy inside, as a thank you next time I make cookies I'll make a batch just for you. Chocolate chip right?"

"Yes, that sounds great, Mrs. Saiyaki, see you later."

"Good-bye Dearies," she said then she went into her apartment that was right next to Katagi's.

"She seems nice," Yusuke said after she left.

"Yeah, she's my next door neighbor and she's really quite sweet. Well, thanks for helping me home."

"No prob, anytime," said Kuwabara. Katagi took Shuichi's handkerchief from his pocket intending to give it back, but it was drenched in blood.

"Uh...hehe I think I'll wash this then give it back to you some other time."

"That's fine," Shuichi said giving him a smile that seemed to make Katagi's knees weaker then they already were for some weird reason. Katagi took out his key and unlocked his door.

"Guess I'll see you guys around," they waved good-bye to him, except Hiei, and he went inside. As they were going down the stairs Shuichi had a serious thoughtful look on his face.

"Hey, Kurama, what's up?" Yusuke asked noticing his expression.

"I don't think those guys were chasing him because they wanted to beat him up," Yusuke and Kuwabara stopped.

"What do you mean?" Asked Kuwabara. Kurama didn't answer for a moment.

"I don't know. It's just a feeling."

"Beating him up was far from their minds," Hiei suddenly said.

"How do you know that?" both Yusuke and Kuwabara asked.

"I was going through Katagi's mind as we were walking here."

"Hiei, that's not very polite," Kurama said disapprovingly. Hiei just shrugged.

"I was bored."

"So what did they want?" Yusuke asked as him and Kuwabara got in front of him. Hiei just walked right by them, pushing them out of the way.

"They were trying to rape him," Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara's mouths fell open and they just stood there, looking at Hiei's retreating back.

==========================Ch.1 end


	2. Contemplation and Unexpected Guests

Proper disclaimers apply.

**Would God Still Love Me?**

_Chapter Two_

-

"Whoa whoa whoa what!?" Yusuke shouted running after Hiei and stopping him, Kurama and Kuwabara soon following. They couldn't believe what Hiei just said.

"What? Are you hard of hearing detective?" Hiei asked semi mockingly.

"My hearing's fine, but I don't think I heard you right," Yusuke shot back.

"No, you heard me just fine. Those guys tried to rape Katagi two weeks ago and they tried again today."

"Whoa no wonder he was so freaked out when they caught up," Kuwabara said, dumbstruck that something like that would happen to someone he knew, even if it was just barely.

"And why he flinched when I first touched him," Kurama added thoughtfully.

"Those damn assholes!" Yusuke suddenly yelled. "Wait till I get my hands on them!"

"Yeah, we'll make them wish they were never born!" Kuwabara chimed in getting angry just thinking about it, then he added. "I haven't heard anything about it though. Do you think he's told anyone?"

"I rather doubt it. Rape victims are usually too embarrassed or ashamed to come forward," Kurama informed them.

"Man, that poor kid I never would have guessed," Yusuke mumbled putting his hands behind his head and looking up at the sky.

"Guys I don't think it would be a good idea to leave him alone right now," Kurama said looking back toward Katagi's apartment.

"How come?" Kuwabara asked. Yusuke got an anger vein and punched him in the back of the head. "OW! What the hell was that for Urameshi!?"

"You dolt! Isn't it obvious why we shouldn't leave him alone?" Kuwabara just looked at him stupidly. Yusuke let out a frustrated growl. "Because, would you want to be all alone someplace after almost being raped and have no one there to comfort you or at least distract you from thinking about it?" Kuwabara let that sink in then sadly shook his head. Kurama nodded.

"My thoughts exactly. If we just let him be up there and think about it over and over he might sooner or later go into a severe depression that will lead to who knows where," Yusuke and Kuwabara nodded, but Hiei just turned around and started walking the way he had been going.

"Hiei where are you going?" Yusuke called after him.

"You guys do what you want, this has nothing to do with me and it's not my problem," he answered as he went further and further away from them until he was out of sight.

"Hmph real compassionate guy that one is," Kuwabara said crossing his arms.

"Let him go, if he doesn't want to go we can't make him," Kurama said. "Alright before we go up there we can't mention anything close to the rape attempt to him because then he will be suspicious of how we found out, we have to let him tell us on his own IF he wants to, you two got that?" Kurama asked, explaining the plan. Both Yusuke and Kuwabara nodded with looks of determination.

"Got it!"

* * *

Katagi went into his apartment and closed the door. He leaned his back against it and let out a sigh.

"Gee what another WONDERFUL day I've had," he said to no one, his voice dripping in sarcasm. He tiredly took off his shoes and put on his slippers. He trudged into his living room and tossed his book bag onto a chair and then plopped down face first onto his couch, he relished the semi soft cushions on his worn out body. Personally he liked his apartment; it was nice and cozy and had everything he needed.

His living room contained a couch, a chair, a coffee table, two side tables and a T.V. Mrs. Saiyaki had given to him when her son had gotten her a new one. It had a kitchen and a bathroom, of course, and one room that was his bedroom and a spare room he didn't really know what to do with. Much better, in his opinion, then sharing one big room with around 30 other kids. He turned over onto his back and grabbed the couch pillow that was behind his head and placed it over his face.

"Why does life hate me so much? What did I ever do to it?" He muffled into the pillow. Though he had been taught, while growing up, that the trials you go through in life are tests from God to see how good of a person you are. If you passed these tests you became a stronger and better person for it, but if you failed you became a weak, cruel, and greedy person that wasn't held high in Gods standards. But really, how many trials did Katagi have to go through?

Apart from growing up in a place where people hated him, being labeled most of his life as some kind of monster then going to Sarayashiki, which don't get him wrong was a lot better, but having no friends. Sure there were some people who would talk to him once in awhile, a lot more then kids at the orphanage ever did, but they were more like acquaintances than friends.

He was use to not having friends, but he still got lonely just like any other person would. Then there were the recent events of the rape attempt. Katagi felt he had been through enough for at least a handful of people, couldn't these things at least have spaced themselves out a few years apart?

He sighed and put the pillow back behind his head and let his arm dangle off the couch as he stared up at the ceiling. Well, nothing he could do about it, but suck it up and deal with it like he'd always done. One good thing about the bad turn a bout's of his life is that when something good came along it was usually something really good.

Like when Sister Minbou started working at the orphanage and she had become a true friend to him, he wouldn't have traded her friendship for anything in the entire world, or the orphanage kicking him out and getting him his own apartment and paying his school tuition, which was way up there on the very good column.

Then of course Yusuke and his friends saving him from his would be rapists. Which was also very good, he would have gone through 100's of lifetimes at the orphanage then being caught by those guys and having them rape and possibly even kill him.

Speaking about Yusuke, Katagi started to wonder if the old Yusuke would have saved him. Before, when Katagi first started going to his school when he was 14, Yusuke had been the meanest, toughest kid that could strike fear into anyone just by giving them a glance and, to Katagi's observation, he abused that power quite frequently.

But then that accident had happened when Yusuke saved a little boy from being hit by a car and he had been killed. When Katagi had heard of it he was shocked that someone like Yusuke would give up his own life for a little kid he didn't even know.

To Katagi, doing something like that had to be one of the most selfless acts he could think of and Katagi had gained a great deal of respect for him. Katagi had then gone to his wake along with some other kids from school. It was quite odd to see Kuwabara storm in with his friends trying to hold him back yelling at Yusuke's coffin for him to get up and fight him.

Some people had thought he had been very disrespectful, but Katagi could see that Kuwabara was just very hurt and grieving inside. He had always thought they had been enemies, but really they were just arch rivals, always trying to out do each other, and that was a big difference.

When Katagi went into Yusuke's house to pay his respects, it was the first time he ever saw Yusuke's mother. It had broken his heart to see her crying her eyes out over her lost son.

It made him wonder if his own mother had cried like that for him when he was left on the steps of the orphanage. He had no recollection whatsoever of his parents since, according to the reverend at the orphanage, he was only around 6 days old when he was left there, not even a week. The only thing that had been a clue to who he was, was a card that had his name on it and a small note saying to please take care of and protect him for them.

The only thing he had from his parents was that card and the blanket he had been wrapped up in. It was a very beautiful baby blanket. It was black with gold designs on the edges of the blanket and it had the symbol of Eternity sewn into the middle.

He didn't resent his parents for leaving him; he felt they had at least loved him enough to leave him someplace where someone would take care of him and not just on the street, and he thought that they must have had a very good reason for leaving him there.

He had said a few words when he kneeled in front of Yusuke's coffin and then he had left leaving some comforting words to his mother. Man, did Katagi's eyes almost pop out of his head when a few months later Yusuke waltzed right into school as if nothing had happened. Katagi had been bewildered as to how he could possibly be alive and the only conclusion he could come up with was that he had been sent back by God or some other kind of higher power because he had a purpose to fulfill, either that or it was all some kind of sick joke.

But, even if the latter was true Katagi still had great respect for Yusuke for sacrificing himself for that child and after he came back he seemed to be a different person. He was still the toughest, actually he seemed to be even stronger then before, but he wasn't as scary and mean. Sure he could still strike fear in the heart of anyone, but he seemed to be a kinder person.

Then there was the shock of Yusuke and Kuwabara actually becoming friends. Now Kuwabara was also an interesting person Katagi held respect for at his school. He was the second toughest at their school, but he seemed to have a big heart under his tough exterior.

Katagi had been convinced of this when he had heard that Mr. Akashi, one of their teachers, had threatened to revoke Kuwabara's friend, Okubo, permission for his job unless they went at least one week without fighting and got high scores on an upcoming test.

It disgusted Katagi that a teacher would do that when he knew Okubo had needed that job for his family that depended on the money he made. Katagi had seen Kuwabara's dedication to his friend when day after day went by and Kuwabara was beaten to a pulp on every single one of them, but never fought back once and he had studied like a madman for that test. In the end all of them had past the test and Okubo had gotten to keep his job.

Katagi had been amazed that Kuwabara had gone through all that when he wouldn't get anything in return except the gratitude of his friend, another selfless act. Which Katagi couldn't do anything but respect him for.

Katagi's mind then started to wander over to Yusuke's two other friends. He knew absolutely nothing about them except their names. Hiei had been very intimidating, even for his height, and he hadn't even done anything. Katagi wondered why he was carrying a katana around, but with the kind of people around here he guessed it was good to have some kind of protection. He was glad someone like Hiei wasn't trying to chase him down with the other thugs, he got the feeling he wouldn't have stood a chance.

Then there was that Shuichi guy. He seemed to be the opposite of Hiei; he was very kind and had had a calming atmosphere about him that had soothed Katagi. His eyes were an amazing green and it was the first time Katagi had seen someone with hair redder then his own.

It had looked very soft and he wondered what it would feel like to run his fingers throu- *WHOA! Freeze that thought and obliterate! What the heck am I thinking!* Katagi couldn't believe that had just crossed his mind! *Helllooooo earth to self, Kurama is a guy, A GUY! You can't have thoughts like that about him!* That was another complication in Katagi's life; recently he noticed that he was being attracted to other guys.

But he couldn't let that happen, the reverends and nuns had taught all the kids that being with someone of your own gender was a MAJOR sin. They bombarded them with things like a marriage or any romantic relationship was only supposed to be between a man and a woman, not a man and a man or a woman and a woman. They taught that if anyone ever committed such an awful act they would be forever tainted in the eyes of God. He didn't know why he started acting that way, he was still attracted to girls, but it seemed like he liked guys just a bit more.

He tried to convince himself that he was just...curious, that's all it was, curiosity *Curiosity killed the cat,* his voice echoed in the back of his mind. He hoped that something good would come out of his attack and his curiosity would be squashed from something that traumatizing, but apparently with those recent thoughts, it wasn't.

He let out a frustrated groan and grabbed and slammed the pillow back down onto his face with the hand that wasn't over the edge of the couch.

"That's all I need, to start being attracted to guys then have everyone at the orphanage find out and then I'll REALLY be considered a freak," he lowered the pillow and looked back up at the ceiling. "I can't let myself start to have unnatural feelings, I just can't," everything was becoming so complicated and soon tears started to slide down his face. "Why am I so weird? Why can't I be normal like everyone else?" The tears started to come heavier as he thought about it.

Suddenly he felt something wet and rough run up against his fingers that were near the floor. He jumped and withdrew his hand quickly.

"Mew," a tiny cry came from the floor. He looked down and a little black kitten was sitting there looking expectedly up at him.

"Geez Darshia, you nearly gave me a heart attack," Katagi told the kitten laughing at himself for the way he had jumped. The kitten mewed again then jumped trying to get up onto the couch, but was only able to make it to the edge and it held on trying to pull itself up. Katagi let out a chuckle. "Come here before you tear my couch apart," he sat up and lifted the kitten up from its struggle then he lay back down and placed it on his chest.

"And how was your day today little man?" He asked it rubbing its head with his finger. The kitten looked at him with its big eyes.

"Mew mew," it replied.

"Mine? It was alright, till I was chased all over town by those thugs," he told it like it had asked him. Katagi never really thought about getting a pet before, he had bought him on an impulse.

He had passed by the pet store and just happened to glance in the window and notice him; when he had seen Darshia he was amazed that the little black kitten had two different colored eyes, just like himself, one yellow eye and one blue eye. He went into the store and had bought Darshia right then and there. The store owner had laughed good naturedly when she saw his eyes then the kittens.

His eyes were also how Katagi had chosen his name. Darshia was an evil character on one of his favorite shows Wolfs Rain. He could turn into a black wolf and he had one blue eye and one yellow eye, (Okie I think he was more a dark brown then black and his name is probably spelled differently, but we're just going to ignore that ^_^') not that his Darshia was evil. On the contrary, Darshia was one of the most playful and affectionate kittens he had ever come across.

Darshia started to purr as Katagi continued to pet him. Then he started rubbing himself against Katagi's cheeks like he was trying to wipe away the tears. Katagi started to laugh.

"Darshia, that tickles!" he pulled the kitten away from his face and it gave him a questionable innocent look. "Thanks Darsh, I bet you're starving, why don't we go get you some food?" Darshia started to meow like crazy. "I'm going to take that as a yes," he swung his legs over the side of the couch and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

Darshia had lightened up his mood a bit and he felt better. He cradled the kitten in his arms and got up and headed to the kitchen. When he went in he put Darshia down and went over to the refrigerator and opened it getting out some special milk and wet cat food that the lady said would help Darshia grow up nice and healthy.

He put some of the milk in a bowl and some of the wet food on a small plate and put them in the microwave to heat them up. As he was waiting Darshia was continuously rubbing against his legs and meowing.

"Hold on a sec, be patient," Katagi said to the little kitten. But apparently Darshia didn't want to and jumped onto Katagi's leg and started clawing his way up his pants and all the way up till he got onto Katagi's shoulder then watched the microwave. Katagi was a bit surprised. "You can climb all the way up here, but you can't get up on the couch?" A mew and a rub against his cheek was his only response. Katagi just had to laugh "You're just lucky I was wearing pants," he chuckled.

The microwave finished and Katagi got Darshia off his shoulder and put him back down on the ground then got the food out and set it down for him. Darshia immediately lunged at the wet food and started to devour it. When Darshia was done with that he went over to the milk and started to lap it up.

"Well, I think your name suits you the way you wolf down your food," he laughed at his own bad joke.

Suddenly his doorbell rang followed by a knock on the door. Katagi raised an eyebrow.

"Now who can that be? I'm not expecting anyone, not that I ever am," he started to leave the kitchen. "Stay here Darsh, I'll be right back," he called back to the kitten, who looked back at him, but then turned back around and continued lapping up the rest of his milk. As he walked to the door he racked his brain as to who it could be. "Who is it?" He called through the door when he got there.

"Hey Katagi, it's us!" A voice answered. Now Katagi's other eyebrow went up to join its companion. *Yusuke? What are they doing here? They just left like 15 minutes ago,* he opened the door and sure enough it was Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Shuichi at his door.

"Uh...did you guys forget something?" He asked slowly, his curiosity rising. Yusuke laughed and said.

"No, we were just wondering, since we don't have really anything else to do, if maybe we could hang with you for awhile?" If they could have, Katagi's eyebrows would have shot up right off his head. Hang with him? Those words weren't even in his vocabulary. He was so shocked that he just stared at them until Yusuke waved his hand in front of his face. "Helllo you in there?" Katagi gave his head a shake, snapping out of it.

"Uh, well, I guess if you really-" he stumbled over his words, not sure how to respond, "I mean yeah sure you can, I don't mind," he finally said, after collecting himself, and opened the door more and side-stepped letting them come in.

Mind? Forget mind, he was ecstatic. Kids his own age actually wanted to be around him. He had to remember to mark this day on a calendar.

The three boys stepped through the threshold and took off their shoes as Katagi closed the door. Then Katagi realized that there was one less than before.

"Uh, hey where's that Hiei guy?" He asked.

"Eh Shorty said he had stuff to do," Kuwabara answered. Then Shuichi turned to Katagi with a smile.

"Sorry if we are intruding in anyway," Katagi could feel his face get warm looking into Shuichi's eyes.

"Uh intruding? No, no it's fine, really," he quickly started going down the hallway leading them to the living room, cursing his backstabbing face. *No, I am not attracted to him! He isn't good looking and he doesn't have the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen!* he shouted at himself in his head. Then he realized how much he had just contradicted himself and he thought he was about due for another mental slap, or a real one. They all walked into his living room.

"Well, it's not much, but welcome to my home," the other three looked around.

"Man, wish my place looked this nice," Kuwabara praised which made Katagi smile. He went over and removed his book bag from the chair and sat down as Shuichi and Yusuke took a seat on the couch and Kuwabara plopped himself down on the floor.

"Are you sure your parents won't mind us being here?" Shuichi asked. Katagi sweat dropped.

"Parents? Uh, well, no, since I don't have any," Katagi answered shyly, fiddling with his shirt. No one knew that he was an orphan at school, since no one had ever asked. Everyone's eyes went wide.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know," Shuichi apologized quickly.

"It's alright, no need to be sorry."

"So how they die?" Kuwabara asked. Yusuke practically lunged at Kuwabara and got him into a headlock.

"Baka! You don't just ask someone that!"

I'm just wondering! How else are we supposed to know?"

"Well, you don't have to be so blunt about it!"

"I don't even know what that means!" As they fought Katagi tried to suppress it, but he started laughing. First it was just a sort of chuckle, but it grew until he started laughing out loud and was gripping his stomach. Yusuke and Kuwabara stopped fighting and all three of them were giving Katagi odd looks. "Uh, I think we missed something," commented Kuwabara.

"What's so funny?" Asked Yusuke. Katagi had to force himself to calm down before answering.

"Sorry, it's just that hehe geez Yusuke that was a bit of an overreaction," Katagi covered his mouth with his hand as he felt another fit of giggles hit him.

"Uh it was?"

"Yeah, because my parents aren't dead...well, actually I wouldn't know if they were alive or dead because I was left at an orphanage at a very young age," he explained to them.

"So...you have this place all to yourself then?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah, and it's totally free too," Kuwabara was next to ask a question.

"How come you don't live at the orphanage anymore?" Uh oh bad question.

"Uh, well, because the people at the orphanage thought-" *That I'm some sort of spawn from Satan and they didn't want me contaminating the other kids and bringing them over to the dark side. Oh yeah, that would be a great way to scare them off,* he mentally rolled his eyes. "Uh, they thought that I would do better out in the real world for some reason, crazy huh?" He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"Man, you must be the luckiest kid in the world," Kuwabara exclaimed, "Getting to have a place all to yourself free of charge."

"It's okie. So what do you guys want to do? I don't really entertain much," he wanted to change the subject

"Well, we could watch a movie," Shuichi suggested.

"Okie, you guys can pick one out, I keep them in that side table over there. They're mostly anime though, hope that's okie," he pointed to the side table near the side of the couch. Yusuke and Kuwabara ran over to it.

"I get to pick it!"

"No, I do!" Both Katagi and Shuichi sweat dropped.

"I'm guessing this happens often," Katagi snickered to Shuichi.

"Yes, I would be worried if it didn't," they both started laughing as the other two continued to fight over Katagi's collection of movies. Then Shuichi fixed Katagi with another generous smile. "So, are you feeling any better?" And cue the butterflies playing dodge ball in Katagi's stomach.

"Uh, yeah I-I'm okie now," Shuichi nodded then turned back to watching Yusuke and Kuwabara. Katagi let out a breath and slouched in his chair. This was getting ridiculous he barely even knew this guy!

"NO WAY!!!" Yusuke and Kuwabara both yelled at the same time.

"Did you find something?" Asked Shuichi.

"Hell yeah we did!" Kuwabara shouted excitedly holding up a movie. "He has Vampire Hunter D, Bloodlust!" Katagi stood up.

"Good choice, that's one of my favorites too. Does anyone want popcorn and soda?" He offered. Not to his surprise, Yusuke and Kuwabara's hands shot straight up and Shuichi nodded that he did too.

Katagi went into the kitchen while Yusuke popped in the movie. Well, this was a rather pleasant turn of events, the only guests Katagi had ever had where Sister Minbou, Mrs. Saiyaki, and a few members of her family. And he couldn't remember the last time he had laughed that hard and it hadn't even been that funny. He just wasn't able to stop himself once he started, it had felt too good. And the exhaustion he had felt from the chase had lessened since his mind was off it.

He grabbed a bag of popcorn and put it into the microwave then headed over to the fridge to see what kind of sodas he had left.

"Hey guys, all I have is Root Beer, that okie with you?" He called out to them.

"That's fine," all three chorused. He could here the previews starting to play.

"Hey, you better not play that movie without me," he warned.

"We're just going through the previews," Yusuke called back. Most people would probably think it weird that someone who believed in God so much would have an interest in vampires, bloodsuckers that killed to stay alive and were repelled by all holy artifacts. But Katagi didn't think just because he believed in God he couldn't watch a good vampire movie or read a book about them once in awhile. He didn't think it mattered, they were make-believe anyway. They fascinated him for some reason; they were just so...cool.

The microwave beeped signaling the popcorn was done. He got three bowls and poured the popcorn into them, he wasn't going to have any himself since his cheek still hurt from where he bit into it and salt probably wasn't going to help.

That's when he noticed something missing. The plate and bowl on the ground were empty, but Darshia wasn't anywhere to be seen. He picked up the dishes, putting them in the sink, and looked around the kitchen for Darsh. *Now where did he run off too? I don't think I saw him go into the living room* he shrugged. Darshia would show up sooner or later.

"Aw how cute! Look at the itty bitty kitty," he heard Kuwabara say from the living room. Looks like it was going to be sooner.

Katagi balanced all the bowls and sodas in his arms and went back into the living room. He tried as best he could not to spill the popcorn and was relieved when Shuichi got up and helped him. He saw that Kuwabara was back on the floor and he was rubbing Darshia's tummy, who was lying on his back, and talking baby talk to him.

"Well, looks like you guys have already met Darshia," Darshia mewed at the sound of his name, but kept where he was and purred loudly.

"Yes such a cute lil kitty yes you are," Kuwabara cooed to him. At Katagi's questioning look Yusuke said.

"Kuwabara really has a thing for cats."

"I can see that." When everyone was situated Katagi sat back down in his chair.

"That's interesting that both of you have different colored eyes," Shuichi commented. Katagi laughed.

"Actually, that's why I got him. I'm glad I did too he's a good companion and it's fun to see how unpredictable he can be," Darshia looked like he was in bliss as Kuwabara continued to rub his stomach. "And it looks like he can pick out the people that will give him the most attention."

They started the movie and Katagi had always loved this movie, but he didn't think it would be so much better watching it with other people. When the movie ended it had gotten dark outside.

"Well, I think we should go, it's getting late," Shuichi said getting up and stretching.

"Aw do we have to?" Both Yusuke and Kuwabara whined.

"You guys might as well, I still have to do my homework," they both grunted, but complied and got up. Katagi lead them back to his front door.

"This was fun, Katagi, we should do this again sometime," Yusuke said thumping him on the back after he got his shoes on.

"Yeah, I would like that," he opened the door and let them walk out. Shuichi was the last one.

"I do hope we get to see each other more. This has been quite pleasant and a pleasure to meet you. I just wish it had been under better circumstances," Katagi felt the butterflies starting another game. He couldn't tell, but Shuichi's eyes seemed to be telling him that he really wanted that first part of what he said to be true.

"Well, better under bad circumstances than none right?" Shuichi nodded with a smile then went out the door after Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"See ya tomorrow at school Katagi," Kuwabara said as they waved good-bye.

"Yeah see you later." After they had gone down the stairs Katagi closed the door and leaned against it with a small smile. "Well, who would have thunk it. The great Yusuke and Kuwabara hanging out in my house," he walked back to his living room and let out a groan as he sat down and grabbed his book bag pulling out his homework from it. "Now I have to get this done," Darshia sat down in front of his chair and mewed at him. Katagi looked down at him. "What? Do you want to help me?" He scooped up the kitten and put him on his lap.

He set to work with Darsh sleeping peacefully curled up on his lap. By the time he was done it was 11:00 P.M.

"Looks like I'm going to have to take my shower in the morning. *sigh* Oh well, I would probably fall asleep then slip and crack my head open anyways," he put his finished homework away and yawned. Now his body was starting to feel what the day took out of it, he was even too tired to go grab something for his dinner.

"Come on, Darsh, time for bed," he said, picking up the kitten then getting up, stretching and yawning again. Darshia also let out a yawn as Katagi walked first to the front door, making sure it was locked, then checking the windows and then turning off all the lights. Then he made his way down the hallway to his room.

He dropped off Darshia on the bed then he left and headed to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and did his business then let his hair out of its braid and brushed it out till it was nice and smooth. He stumbled back into his room and started to undress. It was warm tonight so he decided to just sleep in his boxers. He said his prayers then crawled into bed and settled down making himself comfortable. Darshia bounded up to the top of the bed and then burrowed into the crook of Katagi's neck and curled up into a ball.

"Night Darsh," he said then turned out the light and drifted off to sleep.

=========================== Ch. 2 End


	3. Something Wicked This Way Comes

Proper disclaimers apply.

**Would God Still Love Me?**

_Chapter Three_

-

Katagi had no clue where he was. It looked like he was in some hallway decorated like it was the medieval ages. But everything was dark and disordered, like it was out of focus. He started walking down the hallway since there was nowhere else to go.

He came to two gigantic elegant doors and one was slightly ajar. So he squeezed through it and he looked around. Now it looked like he was in some kind of throne room or something, which was also dark and out of focus. At the end of this room he could see what looked like people talking. The only thing was they didn't look like real people; they were like solid black shadows.

Katagi cautiously went towards them and stood off to the side when he got to them. One shadow was obviously the king or leader as he stood on the steps that went up to the throne. Since he was just a shadow Katagi could only get the details of his outline. He looked well built and around 6'2" ft tall. He seemed to be talking to someone that was standing in front of him at the end of the steps.

Katagi couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but something told him it was a man. This guy had to at least been 6 feet or a little shorter, he had long hair that must have gone a bit below his knees. What scared Katagi a little was that the only color in this whole place happened to be on this guys face (Hey that rhymed =p)

Katagi guessed that it was the mans eye, it glowed a pale red. Katagi could see that a second one was visible every so often so he assumed that the mans hair was covering that one. It made a shiver run up Katagi's spine that someone could have glowing red eyes.

It appeared that the two men were fighting about something since they were both making angry gestures with their arms. It sounded like they were yelling, but Katagi couldn't hear what they were saying since their voices were muffled and distorted, like someone was pressing cushions to Katagi's ears. Katagi wondered what in the world they could possibly be arguing about so fiercely.

Suddenly the man with the red eyes pointed to something to the king's right. Katagi looked were he was pointing and saw what looked like a woman shadow. It looked like her hair went about to her shoulders and Katagi noted she was quite large in the belly region. So he figured she was either pregnant or fat.

The king stood in front of her, defending her from whatever the other man was saying. They argued for a few minutes then the red eyed man rushed forward. Katagi thought he had attacked the king, but then he realized he was kissing him. They stayed like that for a few seconds, but then the king pushed him away roughly and then pointed to the door, obviously telling the man to leave.

Katagi took a step back as the mans eyes went from a pale red to a red that looked like they were fueled by the fires of Hell. It looked like the man was going to attack, but he instead turned on his heel and started to leave. Another man that Katagi hadn't noticed fell in step behind him and followed him out. Katagi just briefly got a look at him, but the guy was like a giant, somewhere around 6'7" at least. When both of them left the king turned to the woman and they both came together and embraced one another.

Suddenly darkness washed throughout the whole room and Katagi was left in pitch black nothingness. He looked around trying to find a way out as panic started to take hold of him in its icy grasp. The nothingness started to rumble and Katagi fell onto his butt as a statue started to rise in front of him.

When everything finally stopped shaking Katagi stood up and got a better look at it. It appeared to be a statue of that king, only now Katagi could make out some details about him since it wasn't a shadow. He was well built and seemed to have hair in a loose ponytail that went to his shoulder blades. But when Katagi tried to get a better look at his face it was chipped in some places and smoothed in others so it was totally lost of distinct features.

As Katagi took his time looking at the stone figure his eyes soon found a crack going along its chest that he could have sworn wasn't there before. As Katagi looked at it a red substance started dripping from it. It didn't take him long to realize it was blood. A bleeding statue? Now that's something you don't see everyday.

Then multiple cracks started snaking there way up the statue's body and all started to ooze out blood. He quickly took some steps back as it began to crumble and then it collapsed and was nothing but rubble and blood.

Suddenly Katagi felt the presence of someone or something behind him. He spun around and yelped when he saw glowing red eyes right in front of him. The shadowed figure came closer to him; his eyes blazing in hatred.

"With your blood the wounds dealt to my heart will be rectified," the shadow hissed at him and then lunged with every intent to do harm. Katagi screamed bloody murder and when he tried to step back the next thing he knew he was falling. The glowing eyes getting further and further away.

* * *

Katagi landed with a thud and his eyes snapped open. He looked wildly around for the red-eyed shadow, but relaxed when he saw he was in his room. He had fallen off his bed, but his legs were still on it and the sheets were twisted around him. Katagi laughed at himself.

"Talk about a rude wake up call," Darshia's head popped up from the edge of the bed and he looked down at Katagi with sleepy eyes. He meowed, but then it turned into a yawn. Katagi chuckled.

"Sorry Darsh didn't mean to wake you," he disentangled himself from the sheets that were wrapped around his legs and sat on the floor, regaining his breath that had become irregular from the nightmare. You think someone who went through a dream like that would be a little more freaked out, but Katagi wasn't, because he wasn't a stranger to that dream. He had had that dream since before he could remember and it was always the same.

He would find himself in some hallway, go into the throne room, watch those two argue then they would kiss, the king then demanding the guy to leave, then darkness would come and that statue would rise up, then it would start to crack and bleed then collapse. The last part was the only thing that really scared him now after having the dream for so long and that confused him the most. He couldn't get why his blood would give that guy peace or what any of it had to do with him at all.

Katagi got onto his knees and looked across the bed at the bedside table and saw that his clock said it was 4:30 in the morning.

"Oh that's just wonderful. Well, might as well get up and do some chores since I'm not gonna get anymore sleep," some light snoring then came to his ears and he looked over to his pillow and saw that Darshia was all curled up on it and had gone back to sleep. "Lucky," he got up and fixed the covers back onto the bed and then stretched his body out. Katagi pondered over what he had to do.

"I should wash my dirty clothes first since I need to give that handkerchief back to Shuichi," so he gathered up all his dirty clothes into his hamper and took the handkerchief from his school uniform pants. Then he thought it over and also tossed his school uniform into the hamper.

He knew it wouldn't be dry by the time he needed to get to school, but luckily he had another one. He didn't wear it much anymore because it was the one the leader had ripped when he was attacked. He had sewn up the ripped fabric and sewed new buttons on it. It was sloppily done a little, but it was pretty good for him.

He dragged the hamper out of his room and to the kitchen where his washer and dryer were in a little closet type thing with wooden folding doors. He put all of the clothes into the washer, put the soap in it and started it. He went back into the living room and turned some lights on since it was still dark outside. He decided the next thing he should do was to take a shower to wake himself up properly.

He went back to his room and grabbed his other school uniform and another pair of boxers then headed to the bathroom. He closed and locked the door and set his clothes down on the counter. He shivered slightly as his bare feet went across the cold tiles. He looked at himself in the mirror and noticed that his cheek was a little swollen from the bite, which still hurt. It was going to be Hell trying to eat today.

He took off his necklace that he had forgotten to last night and placed it on his clothes. He also noticed that his hair was messed up from tossing and turning during the nightmare and probably was full of knots.

"Oh b-e-a-utiful. This isn't going to be fun getting out," he said to himself. He picked up his brush and tried as gently as he could to get the knots out if he found one. He thought sometimes it was too much trouble keeping his hair so long, but he thought his hair was his best feature and so did other people.

He sometimes got comments about his hair from his fellow students and, though he didn't admit it, he liked the small attention he got. His eyes also helped with that attention. When he first started going to school he was the talk of everyone because of how he looked.

Most of the kids, in those first few days, had come up and talked to him wanting to see him for themselves. But after people started getting use to it he got less attention and since he had absolutely no experience in social skills he wasn't able to hold on to any of them as friends.

He looked at his profile in the mirror and didn't think he was that bad looking, but not great to look at either, living at the orphanage had dampened his confidence in that section. He wasn't athletic, but his body was fit and he could see some appearance of abs. His hair contrasted the fair pale color of his skin which was almost completely flawless in the front except for a pale scar above his left eye. He had got that when the kids at the orphanage were teasing him then had started throwing rocks at him, but his bangs usually covered it up so he didn't worry about it much.

Another odd thing about him was a birthmark on his back. He turned around and lifted his hair out of the way to look at it in the mirror. This was also a reason they thought he could possibly be from the devil because it wasn't right looking. Nestled right in between his shoulder blades was a circle with what looked like a tear drop in the middle of it and if you looked closely enough you could see weird symbols on the top, bottom, and both sides of the circle and also it was black instead of a darker color of his skin. It didn't look like a birthmark, but since he had it when they took him in they had assumed it was. To him it looked more like a tattoo, but who heard of a six day old getting a tattoo?

After looking at the birthmark he sadly stared at his back where he had many scars from where the reverend had whipped him once with a bamboo type stick, claiming to be trying to beat the evil out of him. But Katagi didn't really believe that because he looked like he was enjoying it too much when he was doing it.

What made Katagi's situation even worse was that as the blood started flowing down his back it should have dripped over the mark, but instead it completely changed direction and went around it. Then when his back was in the healing process the scars that should have developed on the mark had been completely healed instead, while around the mark the scars formed like they should have.

Boy was that one of the worst times of his life. The bad thing was the reverend had been convinced he was some form of evil, but the good thing was he had never tried to beat or whip him again.

So almost all his life he had felt like dirt, but when he went to school people had a different opinion of him. His eyes that had caused him a great deal of problems in the orphanage were considered cool at his school and his confidence level went up a few boosts when he would catch girls sending looks his way. So he must have been a bit attractive. Though he did sometimes catch guys looking at him like that too and he considered that bad.

He brushed out the rest of his hair until it was completely tangle free then started up his shower. He waited till it was nice and warm then stepped out of his boxers then into the shower, closing the curtain, and shuddering with delight as the warm droplets hit his skin.

He stood there a few moments with his eyes closed just letting the warm water wash over and drench him. He let out a peaceful sigh.

"Showers. One of the best inventions mankind has ever made," he started running his fingers through his hair and scratching into his scalp. Once he was sure his hair was completely soaked he grabbed the shampoo and got some in his hand then started smoothing it into his hair then using his nails to really get it in.

After he washed it out of his hair he got a washcloth and put some soap on it and started washing the dirt and dried sweat off his body, running from those guys had gotten him extremely dirty. He faced the running water and let it go down the front of his body to wash the soap off.

Suddenly a shiver went up Katagi as his back side got cold, but then the feeling left as soon as it came. He looked around quickly, but saw nothing. He was puzzled; the water was still plenty warm so why did he get cold like that so suddenly?

It had felt like a really cold breeze so he stuck his head out the curtain to see if the door had somehow come open. Nope, still closed, and even if it was open a draft wouldn't have been that cold. He withdrew his head and let it go back under the shower. He continued to wash himself, but was a little uneasy now.

After he was done washing his body he just let himself stand under the rushing water, letting himself relax. His relaxation didn't last long though as his eyes snapped open and he gasped as something cold started traveling up his body, starting from his ankles.

It felt like two delicate hands were running there way up his body. First on his ankles, then up his calves and legs. Brushing over his butt then making there way up his back. All of this only took a few seconds, but it felt like an extremely long time to him and he couldn't do anything, it was like he was completely paralyzed.

Katagi's breath became ragged from fear and confusion as the hands slipped under his arms and came around to his front and started playing with his chest. He let out a startled gasp as the invisible offenders found his nipples and started squeezing and rolling them gently. Then it felt like he was pressed against someone's chest and they were hugging him gently as their hands played with him.

Katagi was terrified; he had no clue what was going on or why he couldn't see this assailant. He tried with all his might to move, but he couldn't, he felt frozen to the spot, which he wouldn't doubt since whatever this thing was it was freezing.

Not only was he scared, but under this thing's ministrations he was starting to become aroused. Then a cold wind blew pushing his hair back from his neck and he could feel cold lips starting to kiss his shoulder tenderly.

"Stop," his voice barley came out in a whisper. He started saying the prayers he had learned to ward away demons and evil spirits, but he was cut off as his vocal cords suddenly stopped working. So now he couldn't move or speak, he was completely helpless.

The hands started going lower passing his navel then leaving feather light touches on his inner thighs as the lips started kissing their way from his shoulder going up his neck. Katagi would have let out a strangled moan if his voice was working.

He took a sharp intake of breath as he felt teeth bite him, not breaking the skin, and one of the hands going up his manhood. The teeth let him go and he could feel icy breathing on the back of his ear as the invisible attacker started to pump him wrapping their other arm around his stomach and holding him closer.

He could also feel something else poking against him and he tried desperately not to think about what it was, even though he knew perfectly well what. Then a cold breeze started going by his ear and a voice that was so soft it sounded like it was the wind said.

"I found you...Katagi," the said boys' eyes widened in horror, this thing knew his name! He was being attacked by some unseeable thing and it knew his name! If he thought he was scared before, this bit of info spread fear to every inch of his body. Not only that, but the voice sounded familiar.

The entity gripped him tighter and started to pump him faster causing Katagi to shudder and start panting in want. His body and mind were having an inner war. His mind was saying that this was wrong and it had to stop; he hadn't given this thing permission to touch him, but his body was saying who cared if he didn't give permission, this felt too good to stop.

He had to go with his mind on this one, he wanted this to stop and this thing to leave him alone and he cursed the reactions his body was giving, betraying his thoughts.

"I want to hear you, Katagi," the hold on his vocal cords suddenly disappeared and he started moaning loudly as the arm around his waist left and then the hand reappeared on the small of his back going down and then started to finger the crack of his ass. Katagi immediately tried to stop moaning, he didn't want this thing to know hewas enjoying it, but it became almost impossible to hold back his cries as the hand on his shaft was moving faster and faster. He was on the brink of his release, even though it was unwanted.

"I had wanted your blood-," the finger behind him was getting dangerously close to his entrance, "-but maybe your body and maybe even your love-," just when Katagi was about to climax the finger swiftly made it's way into him and pushed against something inside him that made stars flash across his eyes and he screamed as his seed streamed out and landed on the wall, "-will be payment enough."

Katagi's body wracked with aftershocks and his breathing was labored. The hands of the thing left and soon the feel of the chest was gone too. Katagi got back control of his body and the second he did he spun around to see if anything of his assailant was visible, but he did it so fast he slipped.

Lucky for him his arm shot up out of reflex and he was able to grab hold of the shower head and prevent himself from smashing his head. His hand slipped, from his body being tired from the experience, and he landed on the floor of the shower with a splashy thud.

He was breathing heavily and he was shivering from the lingering cold of whatever it was that had done that to him. He looked around for his attacker, but of course saw nothing but steam from the shower. *What was that thing? Why did it do that?* He leaned against the wall trying to recapture his breath, making sure he didn't lean into his spilt seed.

Suddenly he felt fingertips under his chin and his face was lifted up to look at something that wasn't there and he felt a cold breeze go across his face and the wind whispered.

"I shall make my decision of killing you or loving you when we meet. I might just have to make another visit before our actual meeting, so until then," he felt ice cold lips press against his and a tongue push into his mouth. He tried to pull away, but he was trapped between the wall and this thing. "Farewell," it whispered onto his lips as it pulled away and then the presence was gone.

Katagi was practically plastered to the wall in fear. That thing was coming back? It was deciding whether to kill him or love him? What kind of sick messed up crap was this? Maybe this was all a dream. He was still in bed and he was dreaming. He shook his head and scratched that idea. If this had been some kind of erotic dream or something he would have woken up when he had come.

When he had full use of his limbs and the words had sunk in he quickly turned off the water and scrambled out of the shower. He tumbled out and went skidding across the tiles a little. He quickly got up and grabbed some towels and his clothes and rushed to the door. He wasn't going to stay another second in here. He pulled at the door knob, but the door wasn't opening. Then he realized he had locked it and then once he got that undone he pulled open the door and made a dash to his room.

When he got there he slammed his door shut, startling Darshia awake, and he leaned against it. All the things he was carrying toppled out of his arms as he slide down and sat on the floor. He wrapped his arms around his legs then buried his head in his knees and slowly he started to sob.

Why was everybody touching him without his permission? At least whatever that had been was gentle, unlike the thugs, but that still didn't make it right. To top it all off it was in the form of a man. A MAN! Was he going to be tainted now in the eyes of God? Even though he didn't want what had happened? What had it meant by it had wanted his blood, but was willing to take his body and love instead as payment? The words sounded familiar like in his nightmare ~"With your blood the wounds dealt to my heart will be rectified"~. Could whatever had been in the shower have been the red-eyed creature in his nightmare? But how was that possible? Katagi feared that his sanity was starting to shatter.

Katagi jumped in panic when he felt something furry rub against his side. He lifted his head and looked to see Darshia looking up at him. The kitten put his front paws on Katagi's arm and was standing on his hind legs and mewed.

"Oh Darshia," Katagi sobbed getting the small animal into his arms and buried his face into his fur. Katagi was still wet and was now getting Darshia wet. He hated water, but the small kitten could see how distraught his owner was so did nothing but purr comfortingly.

After awhile Katagi calmed down and got up from the floor with Darshia in his arms. Katagi was still naked so he picked up one of the towels he had grabbed from the bathroom and set Darshia down on the bed then wrapped the towel around his slender waist. He looked at the little black cat and couldn't help but smile because now his fur was all wet and slicked up in some places.

He picked up another towel off the floor and sat on the bed. He got the kitten on his lap and started to towel dry him.

"Sorry Darsh, didn't mean to get you all wet," he sniffled, trying to hold back another sob. Darshia just mewed and purred assuring him it was alright. When Katagi was done he took the towel off Darshia and he burst out in laughter because now sitting in his lap was a small black fluff ball. "Maybe I should have called you Fluffy," he joked, poking at him.

Darshia swatted at him, he was willing to get wet to comfort Katagi, but if he was going to start teasing him then forget it. Katagi laughed again and started petting Darshia's fur to make it go down. He was really starting to think getting Darshia was one of the best decisions he had ever made. He was always there to comfort Katagi if he needed a pick-me-up.

Once Darshia's fur was back to normal Katagi put him back on the bed then stood up and retrieved his clothes from the floor. He looked at the clock and it was now 6:55 he needed to hurry if he was going to get to school on time. It was about a 20 minute walk the way he was going to go today. No short cut, no long way, just the route that he should have been sticking to in the first place. Most of the kids from school walked that way so he would be safe from the thugs.

After that experience in the shower he didn't want to go to school, but there was no way he was going to be staying in his apartment alone. He got dressed in his uniform then used the towel from his waist to dry his hair. He brushed it out with his extra brush then grabbed his necklace from the ground and put it around his neck. He wished Sister Minbou was here, he could always talk to her. But now the only way they kept in contact was by mail or sometimes, when she had days off, they would spend the day together, but that was it. They didn't want him coming near the orphanage so he didn't.

His hair was still kind of damp so he kept it down until it air dried. He opened his door.

"Come on Darsh, lets get some food," he hadn't eaten last night so he was hungry, but not as much as he had been before. Darshia mewed and jumped down from the bed and went out of the room. Katagi followed him down the hallway, but picked up his pace when he went past the bathroom.

They went into the kitchen and Katagi went over to the washer, since it was done, and put the clothes into the dryer and started them. He went over to his fridge and got Darshia's food and after he heated it up he gave it to the little beast who started devouring it. He went back to the fridge to see what he could eat and noted, to his dismay, that the fridge was almost bare.

"I need to go grocery shopping today," usually he didn't like going shopping, but if it meant more time out of his apartment then that was fine with him. He grabbed some things to make his packed lunch and he put some bread into the toaster for breakfast. Once he was finished packing his lunch he grabbed the toast and started eating it. Then he remembered he didn't check the mail last night so once he finished his toast and put Darshia's dishes away he went to the front door, unlocked it, then stepped outside.

He was greeted by the cool morning air and he breathed deeply. Then he turned to the little box that was nailed to the wall to the side of his door and reached in and grabbed some letters. He went through it and saw that he got a letter from the orphanage containing the money he would need for his food and whatnot and, to his delight, a letter from Sister Minbou then the rest was just junk mail.

"Hello Deary," a voice said next to him.

"Ahhh!" Katagi nearly jumped out of his skin and his letters went flying.

He looked over and saw Mrs. Saiyaki watering her plants that she kept outside.

"Oh, Mrs. Saiyaki, hi," Katagi wheezed, grabbing onto his chest as if he was going to have a heart attack, which he thought was very possible at that moment.

"I'm sorry, Deary, I didn't mean to frighten you," she apologized.

"Don't worry, I'm okie. Just didn't see you there," Mrs. Saiyaki laughed.

"Well, I can see that. The way you jumped I thought you were going to hit your head on the roof," she joked bending down and picking up a letter that had landed near her. Katagi took it from her and picked up the others.

"Guess I'm a little jumpy," he replied.

"Speaking of that can I ask you something Katagi?" She asked.

"Uh sure you can,"

"Did you scream earlier?" Katagi could feel his face pale. "I could have sworn I heard a scream, but with these old ears you can never tell. Did you have a bad dream or something?" She asked looking worriedly up at him.

"Y-You heard that? Yeah, I did, sorry if I disturbed you," not a lie, he did have a nightmare, that's just not why he had screamed.

"Oh I'm just glad you're okie, don't worry about me. I asked my son if he heard anything, but his ears are getting old too."

"Is he visiting this morning?" Katagi asked.

"Yes, we were having breakfast together," Mrs. Saiyaki had three children, two daughters and one son. Her daughters had moved away awhile ago with their own families, but her son lived close by and visited her often.

Katagi thought he was a nice man, he was around his forties and had short black hair that was graying at the temples and he had a bushy mustache. When Katagi first started living here Mrs. Saiyaki had insisted he come over for Thanksgiving when she found out he would be all alone. So he went and it had been just him, Mrs. Saiyaki, and her son. Katagi had enjoyed himself immensely and was glad he went.

Katagi was starting to wonder if he should leave Darshia alone in his apartment. If that thing could do that to him he had no doubt it could hurt the little kitten.

"Mrs. Saiyaki, can I ask you a favor?" He inquired.

"Sure Deary, anything."

"Do you think you could keep Darshia for me until I get home from school? I'm afraid he gets lonely in there all by himself," Mrs. Saiyaki smiled.

"Of course, Deary, it would be my pleasure."

"Thanks a lot he's already been fed so you don't have to worry about that," just then the door to Mrs. Saiyaki's apartment opened and her son stepped out.

"Thanks for having me over mother, it was a delicious breakfast, but I'm afraid I need to get going or I'm going to be late for work," then he saw Katagi. "Oh, hello Katagi, how are you?"

"Hello Mr. Saiyaki, I'm okie," *For being molested by some invisible creature,* he finished in his head. Mr. Saiyaki smiled and nodded.

"It was Katagi who screamed earlier, see I'm not starting to hear things," Mrs. Saiyaki said giving her son a playful hit to the stomach.

"Is that so? Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, just a nightmare," Katagi assured him.

"Well, I'm just heading off so why don't I save you some trouble and give you a lift to school?" He offered. Now usually Katagi would put up a fight, not wanting to be a problem, but after what just happened he figured his mind would be wandering and he would probably end up getting hit by a car.

"If you're sure I won't be any trouble."

"Of course not, but you better hurry or else were both going to be late," Mr. Saiyaki warned looking at his watch.

"Alright, let me just go get my stuff and fix my hair then I'll be ready," Mr. Saiyaki nodded as Katagi rushed inside.

He tossed the mail on the couch, keeping the one with the money in it for groceries, then he quickly went to his room and had the brush go through his hair again then he swiftly put it in a braid, years of practice had made him an expert. He left his room and grabbed his book bag from the chair and then went into the kitchen. He put his packed lunch in his book bag then he grabbed Darshia from where he was on the floor and glanced at the clock on the stove. It was now 7:37, he didn't want to leave the dryer on while he was gone so he went over to it and stopped it then opened and grabbed Shuichi's handkerchief as an after thought. It was still slightly damp, but it would dry out during the day, plus he wasn't sure if he would be seeing the red head today anyways.

"Okie Darsh, Mrs. Saiyaki is going to be looking after you today so be good," Darshia mewed up at him. Katagi made sure he had his keys and everything then went back to the front door, locking it, and then stepped through it shutting it behind him. Mr. Saiyaki looked at him surprised,

"Wow that has to be some kind of record for getting ready. I thought you would have taken at least 5 more minutes," Katagi just smiled and shrugged.

"Well, he's a good dependable boy, not lazy like you," Mrs. Saiyaki laughed.

"Mom," Mr. Saiyaki fake whined. Katagi laughed then went over and handed Darshia to Mrs. Saiyaki.

"Now you be good Darsh."

"Oh me and him will get along splendidly, now shoo the both of you," she started pushing Mr. Saiyaki and Katagi toward the steps. "And have a good day," she added.

"We will," both of them chimed. Mr. Saiyaki led the way down the stairs. Katagi gave one last look at his apartment door. He wasn't sure, but he didn't think his cozy little home was going to be safe anymore, but he was sure of one thing. Something wicked this way comes.

========================= Ch. 3 End


End file.
